


Gentlemen Prefer Blonds

by ShamelessPeterPan (PiscesDragon)



Series: With Your Hand in Mine We Are Kings [3]
Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: BJYX | Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan is Real, Bisexual Xiao Zhan, Blond Yibo, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Fate Works in Mysterious Ways, Living Together, M/M, Original Character(s), Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23702080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiscesDragon/pseuds/ShamelessPeterPan
Summary: In the midst of a cleaning spree brought on by the boredom of the required quarantine, Yibo sees an old picture of himself in a box of his boyfriend’s momentos.Xiao Zhan was backed into a corner. How was he going to explain this? He didn’t want to upset Yibo, but the truth seemed to be the only way forward. It would have been a lot easier if he had remembered what was in the box and avoided the contents altogether, but now it was too late. “Look… Let me explain…”
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan
Series: With Your Hand in Mine We Are Kings [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664230
Comments: 32
Kudos: 357





	Gentlemen Prefer Blonds

**Author's Note:**

> I have a very strong head-canon that Xiao Zhan has as much of a thing for old pictures of baby blond Yibo as the rest of us do, so I couldn't help running with it. Wouldn't it be funny if he'd been a fan of Wang Yibo long before he was famous?
> 
> I’ve done a little research, but ultimately I know nothing about the experience of being LGBT in China, so any reference to that is purely fictional interpretation and not meant to be an assumption or treatise on the situation at all. Things mentioned are based loosely on the experiences of friends and my limited knowledge of the way things were for some people in the US prior to the last 15-20 years.
> 
> *Thanks to Liz for looking over this so quickly for me!

A few weeks into the government enforced quarantine, Yibo had begun to get a little crazy from being cooped up inside the apartment for so long. Unlike Xiao Zhan — who had spent a number of years sitting through lectures, hunched over tables drawing and studying, and parked in front of a computer for work — Yibo wasn’t accustomed to sitting around for very long in one place.

And he was having a particularly squirrelly day. Video games and his phone weren’t holding his interest, he’d already done his run on the treadmill and then a few dance routines for a workout, and he was bored. Unfortunately, he’d already assembled half of the Lego sets from the pile he usually never had time to tackle, and he was trying to follow Xiao Zhan’s suggestion of pacing himself with the rest. So killing a few hours building things with tiny pieces of plastic wasn’t a good option, either.

And though Xiao Zhan was generally more than willing to humor Yibo and wear him out when the need arose, there was a limit to how much sex even two twenty-somethings could attempt in a few days time without hurting themselves.

There were certain places on the body where chafing was just not a laughing matter.

Which is probably what led to Yibo — in sheer desperation for something to do — deciding to reorganize their closet.

“Hey,” Yibo grunted at him as he came into the living room. His arms were filled by a large box which he carried over and placed on the floor beside the couch where Xiao Zhan was sitting. “Do you still need any of this stuff? It was in the extra closet.”

Yibo had decided somewhere during his organizing spree that he needed more room in their large walk-in closet for shoes. Which shouldn’t have been an issue — except he also needed somewhere for the shoes that weren’t worn often, but that he didn’t want to donate or toss out.

Xiao Zhan tried arguing that they could easily get rid of a few pairs. They wore the same size shoes, and with both of them picking up sponsorships for footwear companies recently, there would be new styles they’d be expected to wear and be seen in.

But then Yibo pouted with his cute little face and called him “Zhan-Zhan” in his sexy ass voice, and Xiao Zhan caved like a sandcastle at high tide.

He reminded himself there were some battles just not worth fighting and told Yibo he could use the extra closet in what was now his home studio space.

“I didn’t realize you still had stuff you hadn’t unpacked,” Yibo said, giving him a questioning look. “Looking to make a quick getaway at some point?”

He was trying to play it off, but Xiao Zhan caught the hint of uncertainty in his expression. Even though they’d been together for well over a year, they’d only been living in the same place for a few months. For all of his maturity and worldly experience, Yibo would occasionally do things to remind him that being in a serious, committed relationship was still a skill he was learning. For example, his boyfriend had a bad habit of expecting Xiao Zhan to have one foot turned to bolt out the door at any given moment.

Ironic, considering Xiao Zhan would have whisked him off to get married somewhere if the man weren’t so damn young and seemingly opposed to the idea.

Xiao Zhan flashed a grin as Yibo plopped onto the couch next to him. “But if I left, I would miss out on your delightful snoring waking me up in the middle of the night.”

A punch landed squarely on his bicep, and Xiao Zhan laughed.

With Yibo sufficiently reassured for the moment, Xiao Zhan pulled the box over in front of them and opened it, leaning forward to take a look inside. He vaguely remembered shoving the box out of the way in the closet when he’d moved in, but he wasn’t even really sure what was in it. The cardboard had seen better days and looked like it had gone through a number of relocations at this point.

The first thing in the top of the box acted as a trigger for his memory, and Xiao Zhan suddenly remembered what the box contained.

“It’s all stuff from college and before I did the X-Fire show,” Xiao Zhan explained, lifting the black square from the box.

Yibo stole it from his hands and plopped it on Xiao Zhan’s head, flicking the yellow tassel with a finger so it swung like a pendulum in front of his face. 

“My smart Zhan-ge,” he said with a bright smile. “You look so handsome. I never even wore one of these except for a photoshoot.”

His voice drifted off, and the smile dropped slightly from his face.

“You always could, you know,” Xiao Zhan said gently. He was well aware Yibo’s educational background was an oddly sore subject. While Xiao Zhan saw nothing to be ashamed of in not finishing high school to begin the rise to an insanely successful career as a multi-talented superstar, he knew his own college achievements sometimes left Yibo feeling inadequate, regardless of his fame and fortune.

“Eh,” Yibo shrugged and Xiao Zhan could almost see the discomfort rolling off his back and being tossed aside, like water sliding off a duck’s feathers. “I’ll just find a brilliant old guy to take care of me.”

His grin and growlish chuckle was met with a light punch to the arm from Xiao Zhan, which of course, only made the gremlin laugh harder.

Ignoring the smartass beside him, Xiao Zhan pulled off the hat and set it to the side. His hands dug through the box, pulling out items that brought back fond memories as if he was emptying a time capsule. All of it was stuff he’d packed before moving to Beijing and never looked at again. Yearbooks, art recognitions, a few vocal awards, and lots of little trinkets Xiao Zhan accumulated over the years and at some point decided he couldn’t part with. 

It was amazing how much his life had changed in just five or six years. There was a time when the contents of the box contained his most treasured memories and achievements. The Xiao Zhan who’d packed up those items could have never imagined the experiences and successes he’d had just in the last year alone.

As he sorted through the junk to see what was still worth keeping, Yibo looked on and examined everything, getting a kick out of the momentos.

A stack of framed photos was pulled from the box, and Yibo leaned against him to get a closer look.

“Aww! Look at your little round face!” his boyfriend gushed, tugging the picture out of Xiao Zhan’s hands. It was a group shot taken toward the end of his studies.

“I was fat,” Xiao Zhan grumbled, frowning at the picture as if it wronged him. He _hated_ looking at old pictures of himself.

“No, still handsome,” Yibo said, running a long finger lightly over the moon face beneath the glass. His eyes were soft and overly fond, like Xiao Zhan’s chubby face was the most adorable thing he’d ever seen.

Warmth flooded Xiao Zhan’s heart — god, he fucking loved this man.

He shifted through a few more photos in the stack, quickly setting them to the side before Yibo could set eyes on anything too embarrassing.

But when he got to the last frame, he froze in shock, caught holding a picture that looked VERY familiar.

“What the fuck?” Yibo squeaked in surprise, jumping back on the couch slightly like a bug had crawled out of the box. “You said this was college stuff! _You had that in college?!”_

He wasn’t screaming, but it was a near thing. Xiao Zhan hadn’t even realized a voice as deep as Yibo’s was capable of getting that shrill.

“No, no…” Xiao Zhan argued, his heart racing as he panicked. _Where were those acting skills when he needed them?_ Playing dumb was always a good strategy. “What year was this from?”

Yibo got over his surprise quickly, his eyes sliding back and forth between his own picture and Xiao Zhan’s wide eyes.

“My hair was like that when we had our debut,” Yibo laughed, chuckling like a demented gremlin at his boyfriend’s flustered face. He bounced on the couch with glee. “I was only sixteen or seventeen! You old pervert…”

Apparently Xiao Zhan’s discomfort won out over the surprise appearance of the photo, because Yibo seemed to have decided the situation was hysterical.

“No! No, look… It was a joke,” Xiao Zhan explained in a panic, attempting to make light of the situation.

Yibo’s laughter abruptly stopped. “You had a picture of me as a _joke?”_

_Shit._ That reaction was not better. He knew for a fact that tone of voice meant trouble.

Xiao Zhan was backed into a corner. How was he going to explain this? He didn’t want to upset Yibo, but at this point the truth seemed to be the only way forward. It would have been a lot easier if he had remembered what was in the box and avoided the contents altogether, but it was too late now.

“Look… Let me explain…”

***** Five Years Ago *****

As a young college graduate just starting his professional career, there were times Xiao Zhan wished he’d made the less financially responsible decision to get his own place. Sharing an apartment with his friends was fun most of the time, but between one roommate and his girlfriend and the other roommate and his “friend” (who everyone knew was the boyfriend but never discussed it openly) and the very thin walls of their shared space, he found himself feeling like a single third wheel.

The minute he’d graduated and landed a job, his mother had done nothing but attempt to set him up on dates. Xiao Zhan humored her at first — but the only way he was going to be able to stomach dating a woman long term was if they got along well. And he hadn’t exactly hit it off with any of the girls his mother and aunties had been sending his way.

Once he got busy with work, he thought it would be a viable excuse to put off dating for a while.

Still, when his mom came over periodically to visit — and bring him food, and make sure he’s taking care of himself and generally check in on him — she wouldn’t stop asking him about finding a nice girl. When he’d last gone home to visit, he’d nearly cracked and shouted at her that the last relationship he’d managed to make work for more than a few months was with a man.

But that was information Xiao Zhan wasn’t sure his mother would _ever_ be ready to hear. Instead, he’d swallowed down the words and kept peace in the family like the dutiful son he was.

The confrontation made him irritable and short with his roommates the next week, and Zhang Ling apparently drew the short straw to pull him out of his dark mood.

“Zhan-di,” his roommate said in greeting, strolling through Xiao Zhan’s open door and closing it behind him.

Xiao Zhan looked up from his bed, where he’d been laid out sketching his feelings. So far, the page was filled with a mix of storm clouds, lightning bolts and dark, soulful eyes. “What’s up?”

“Spill,” Zhang Ling replied with a pointed stare.

Xiao Zhan feigned ignorance, looking back with wide innocent eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Unfortunately, Zhang Ling was blunt by nature and had known him long enough that he wouldn’t be easily deterred.

“This,” he said, poking a finger into Xiao Zhan’s sketchbook. “You’ve been a thundercloud in the apartment for days, and now you’re _drawing_ them. What the fuck, Lao Xiao?”

As much as he didn’t want to talk about his problems, Zhang Ling was one of the few people in his life that did _truly_ understand what he was going through.

He sighed and put down his pencil. “My parents bought a house.”

“Ah…” Zhang Ling murmured, sitting down carefully on the bed.

“Yeah.”

“They want you to move?” his friend asked in a hopeful voice, but the look in his eyes was pitying.

Xiao Zhan’s expression was deadpan. “Exactly. And get married and start having their grandkids. I’m twenty-three! I don’t want that!”

Zhang Ling raised a critical eyebrow. “Don’t want it now? Or don’t want it at all?”

“I don’t…” Xiao Zhan trailed off. “I _do_ want kids someday, I guess.”

“And the wife?” his friend asked quietly.

They’d known each other for a long time. Hell, he knew Zhang Ling intimately, though he tried to forget it. Their fumbling screwing around during their first year in college was extremely short-lived before they’d both decided friendship was a much better track for them.

“Maybe?” Xiao Zhan squeaked in reply. “I don’t know, Ling-Ling. If I find the right girl… But the older I get, and the more my mom pushes, the more I think the right girl doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe she doesn’t.”

“I almost told my mom that,” Xiao Zhan admitted with a defeated sigh.

“Really?” Zhang Ling said, surprise evident in his voice. “Why didn’t you?”

Xiao Zhan shot him a dark look. “Do _your_ parents know about Li Ming?”

Falling ‘outside the norm’ in China created an interesting dynamic. Friends and family sometimes knew or assumed about a person’s preferences, but it was never discussed. Even serious years-long relationships were often referred to as simply “roommates”, and the term “partners” was only used by those few individuals brave enough to be open about their sexuality.

Zhang Ling and Li Ming had been together for over three years, but they didn’t even live together for fear Li Ming’s parents would find out. They held hands and cuddled on the couch in the apartment, but _nán péng yǒu_ (boyfriend) had never been uttered in public by either of them.

Their entire relationship was an open secret.

His roommate’s head lowered with a sad smile. “Point taken.”

“I just…” Xiao Zhan said, his voice cracking with emotion as he fought back the tears that threatened. “I don’t know if I can be what they want me to be.”

Zhang Ling laid a hand on his forearm, running his thumb across the skin in a soothing pattern. “You have to live your life for you, Xiao Zhan. Believe me, I know. I get it. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Those words would stick with him for the next few months, and eventually help propel Xiao Zhan to take a leap of faith and start all over on a new career path.

As it was, about a week later a framed 8x10 picture randomly showed up in his room.

“What the hell is this?” he asked Zhang Ling when he cornered him in the hallway, knowing their third roommate wouldn’t have dared pull such a joke.

“It’s a guy, but it doesn’t LOOK like a guy,” Zhang Ling explained with a laugh. “You like that type. Best of both worlds, right? You get something pretty to look at, and your mom’s happy there’s a ‘girl’ in your room when she comes to visit.”

The picture _was_ pretty , there was no denying that . With chin-length, light blond hair, skin like snow and big beautiful brown eyes, Xiao Zhan had at first also assumed the person in the photo was a young woman . It was only upon closer inspection that other prominent features jumped out. An Adam’s apple, barely visible from the angle of the photo, and something about the jawline gave away hints of masculinity. Yet the unbelievably plump pink lips of the model — and surely this person _had_ to be a model, right? — were downright obscene and had no business being on a man’s face.

Xiao Zhan was pretty sure regardless of sexual orientation those lips would be a temptation to any breathing person. Ling-Ling wasn’t wrong — it was a damn attractive photo.

_“Who_ is this?” Xiao Zhan amended his question, trying to maintain his aggravated posturing while still staring at the gorgeous face under glass. He shuffled back into his room, his friend following closely behind him.

His roommate shrugged. “Some guy from a new band Li Ming likes.”

Well, _that_ narrowed it down. There were only about a hundred different boy bands being constantly churned out between Korea and China.

“Thanks, I guess?” Xiao Zhan said, setting the picture toward the back of his dresser where the pretty face couldn’t taunt him too much.

Zhang Ling threw him a wink and a saucy smile before traipsing out of the room and singing, “You're welcome!”

<><><><><>

“So do you work with any nice young women?” 

His mom had come by for a visit, bringing a haul of groceries and insisting she make dinner for Xiao Zhan and his roommates. 

“ _Ma,”_ Xiao Zhan chastised forcefully. “I’m working with people at work, not dating them.”

“You’ve been there almost a year, ZhanZhan,” she continued innocently, as if he hadn’t spoken. “I can’t believe no one has caught your eye.”

In truth, he had gone out once or twice with a couple of girls from work, and one guy who sent some mixed signals but was really just looking for a buddy to hang out with. Luckily, Xiao Zhan figured it out before anything awkward occurred. The close call did cause him to enforce a strict policy to stay out of the company inkwell, though.

His roommates provided a distraction from his abysmal social life throughout dinner, entertaining his mother with stories of their daily lives. It was nice, having a lively evening with people he was close to. A bright spot in what had become the drudgery of his day-to-day work life.

But he was only safe from his mother’s one-track mind for so long. After dinner was finished and the dishes cleaned up, Xiao Zhan wandered into his room to find the latest logo he’d done for a client. His mother, who believed boundaries didn’t exist for the person who brought him into the world, cheerfully followed him into his room and began nosing around at his things to her heart’s content. Having known her for the first twenty-three years of his life, Xiao Zhan’s room was spotless — he had rushed to straighten it when she showed up, quickly putting away any odds and ends she didn’t need to see.

Like a dog sniffing out a scrap of meat, in no time his mother noticed the new addition to his decor.

“Oh, she’s pretty,” his mom said, pointing to the picture of the model on his dresser. “Is this someone you know?”

“No, Ma,” Xiao Zhan answered, eager to change the subject and praying for the flush to fade away from his face. The brief temptation to say it was his girlfriend would have only led to bigger problems. “It’s just an idol. Don’t get any ideas.”

“You’re such a good-looking boy, just like your father,” she said. He could tell she only barely resisted the urge to pinch his cheek. “You could get yourself a pretty girl like that. I keep waiting for the day when you’ll be bringing someone home again.”

The last time that had happened he’d been nineteen and cautiously optimistic he’d found the girl he would be with forever — at least until he’d made an unannounced visit to her apartment and caught her in an _indelicate position_ with her female roommate. Ironically, it turned out she wasn’t so much bisexual as Xiao Zhan was convenient, and enough of a gentleman not to push for a sexual relationship she wasn’t into.

So for the next nearly a year, _his_ bisexual sorrows had been assuaged in a variety of beds all over campus. Done in a conspicuous enough manner, of course, to develop only a slight reputation with the ladies.

“Yeah, well,” Xiao Zhan fidgeted on the bed, pulling nervously at a loose string on the comforter. “I’m busy with work, Ma.”

“You could make time to date, ZhanZhan,” his mother argued. “But if this is your ideal type, you might never find the right girl. A blond? And look how pale! So western… You’ll never find a girl like that in Chongqing!”

His mother’s grumbling trailed off. If only she knew the person she was admiring was actually a man. He didn’t want to even imagine her reaction. In his head, it involved chest-clutching and the words “you’re killing me, you’re killing your poor mother.”

He may have gotten his looks from his father, but his flair for the dramatic was all a gift from his Ma.

In a twist of fate, years later when he brought his “friend” Wang Yibo home to meet his family, there had actually been no drama. In fact, he hadn’t even had to _tell_ his parents anything. His mother had taken one look at the way he apparently gazed at Yibo across the dining room table, and she promptly burst into tears. Before Xiao Zhan could even ask what was wrong, she was out of her chair and wrapping her small, strong arms in a motherly hug around Yibo’s neck, effectively scaring the living daylights out of him.

Yibo’s wide eyes and gaping mouth remained as Xiao Zhan’s mother then rushed to hug her son next, gushing into his ear, “I’m so happy you finally found someone, _bǎobǎo_ _._ If you have love in your life, you have everything.”

His father looked on with a small smile, leaning over to pat Yibo on the shoulder as if to jolt him out of his shock, while Xiao Zhan wrapped his brain around the fact that neither of his parents were at all surprised or bothered by his apparently obvious feelings for the younger man across the table.

He’d done a horrible job of containing his own tears of relief as he hugged them both.

***** Present *****

“But you liked it, right?” Yibo asked, pulling him out of his memories. “You _liked_ the picture.”

“Well, yeah,” Xiao Zhan admitted a little shyly. “You looked good. You always look good…”

Yibo’s lips spread into an evil grin. “Did you ever jerk off to that picture when you were younger?”

“Wang _Yibo —_ ”

“Oh my god,” Yibo cackled. Sitting with his knees folded underneath him, he bounced in place, reminding Xiao Zhan of an excited toddler. “You _did,_ didn’t you?”

Xiao Zhan hid his face in his hands, his neck sliding down into his shirt like a turtle. His voice was muffled when he replied, “I will _never_ admit to that.”

“That’s ok, I can already see the answer all over your face.” Yibo’s smirk was wicked, one side of his mouth pulled up in a smile like a demented clown.

“Er-gege — ” Xiao Zhan whined.

“It should really be disgusting, right?” Yibo said. “You were lusting after me when I was just an innocent, little child.”

“You were not a _child —_ ”

“But it’s kind of hot, you know?” Yibo continued as if Xiao Zhan hadn't said a word. “What was it you liked best, Zhan-ge? Was it the hair? It was so long then. Or was it the color?”

It was both, truth be told. The man looked amazing no matter what a stylist did to him, but he definitely made androgenous work in a way no one else did. Xiao Zhan swallowed roughly, unwilling to give Yibo the ammunition to destroy what scrap of face he’s managed to save so far. 

Unfortunately for him, Yibo had catalogued every expression Xiao Zhan could make and was able to read him like an open book.

“OH! You like the _blond,”_ Yibo says with an all-knowing smile. “Do you think I should dye it like that again sometime?”

The thought of Yibo — his fully grown adult, ball of fiery sweetness Yibo — looking like _that_ again… A single glance down at the picture had his pants tightening slightly at just the thought.

“Ahh…” What was meant to come out of his mouth was a denial, but instead it seemed all he was capable of producing was a fractured sound.

“I always said I’d never do blond again,” Yibo purred, turning to shift his body closer. “But if you like it so much, I can talk to my stylist. See if she thinks it could work.”

“When we find a style you _don’t_ look good in, I’ll alert the media,” Xiao Zhan joked. “It could be a sign of the end times.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Yibo argued half-heartedly, his bright cocky smile making it obvious that he agreed with Xiao Zhan’s assessment.

“Hey, there’s no way I could ever pull off blond,” Xiao Zhan laughed. “I’m not pale enough. I’d look completely ridiculous.”

Yibo looked him over with a critical eye, as if analyzing the possibility. “Yeah, that’s probably true.”

“We can’t all be a delicate _White Peony,”_ Xiao Zhan said with an evil smirk, running a finger lightly down the milky skin of Yibo’s arm. He knew how much the old nickname was a trigger for his boyfriend.

As expected, a firm punch landed on his chest as Yibo climbed over into his lap on the couch. “Who are you calling delicate, old man?”

“What would you rather I call you?” Xiao Zhan asked with an amused grin. He pulled Yibo closer, wrapping his arms around the younger man’s waist and spoke into the side of his neck so his lips whispered against the soft skin. “If I’m old, I guess that makes you my _bǎo_ _bèi_ _.”_

“That’s a hell of a lot better than a fucking flower,” Yibo snarked. He dropped a kiss on Xiao Zhan’s lips, then pulled away quickly with a wide, evil grin. “Do you want to put that picture of me next to the bed for old time’s sake?”

Xiao Zhan grit his teeth in mock anger and pinched Yibo’s side in retaliation, only succeeding in making his boyfriend laugh loudly in his ear.

“I bet you’d like that, you narcissist,” he said before softening the verbal jab with a peck on the cheek. “Besides, keep it up and I’ll take back my closet space.”

Yibo bolted from his lap like his pants had caught fire.

“Nope! Too late!” he exclaimed as he all but ran back toward their bedroom. “A gift given can’t be returned!”

A few seconds later, Xiao Zhan caught a glimpse of him moving at a rapid pace down the hallway toward his studio, arms full of multiple pairs of sneakers. 

Smiling to himself, Xiao Zhan reached for the old photo of Yibo, which had been left sitting off to the side of the couch during their discussion. He admired it for another moment, then gently placed it back into the bottom of the box. It was a memory of his past and an oddly unique aspect to the story of their relationship. No matter how many amazing pictures his ridiculously charismatic boyfriend may take or what the future held for them, this would always be one picture of Wang Yibo he would never be able to part with.

A thought niggled in his brain, though, whether Yibo had been serious about his willingness to dye his hair again. He had a role in a modern drama coming up soon, so there was no way he’d be able to do anything extreme before filming wrapped up. That was fine — it would give Xiao Zhan plenty of time to try convincing Yibo that his blond look definitely deserved a comeback.

**Author's Note:**

> I would LOVE to hear what you think! I'm always open to comments and feedback - and kudos are very appreciated!
> 
> You can also find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bjyxobsessed), generally being jealous of both of the boys for getting to have each other :D


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